Big Data and Colocation

Facebook is opening their own $1.5 billion data center, and Google is expecting to expand pretty much all of their data centers in Oregon. What does this mean for the future of data centers?

The Internet is all data (durr)–and with the Internet exponentially growing on the regular, the big boys of the Internet need a place to put all this stuff. THIS stuff. This exact article you’re reading right now.

With the news of Facebook and Google’s huge data centers on the verge of breaking ground, some companies are moving towards housing their own data centers where they can control absolutely everything.

Facebook is expanding into Iowa, opening their own $1.5 billion data center, and Google is expecting to expand pretty much all of their data centers in Oregon, North and South Carolina, Belgium and Iowa.

Data Center Facilities

Facebook and Google need those huge data centers to house all their cat pictures, baby pictures, useless status updates, and all the data used in searches for “cat pictures”. Fun fact: 99% of Google’s data is cat pictures. Joe Schmoe who runs JoeSchmoe.com doesn’t need a 45-acre data center to house 3 pages of data, so most companies still turn towards colocation and dedicated servers.

What does this mean for my company?

Nada, zip, zilch. Everybody can keep up with the Jones’ in their own way. Managed servers are a way for you and your company to control everything that happens with your server and data, with the extra added bonus of not having to be your own system administrator. This way, you can focus all your energy on your ever-expanding cat picture business.

So while Google and Facebook pour billions into new data centers, managed dedicated servers are offering the same services that would be found in these giant data centers. Unless of course your cat picture business is doing billions of dollars of business a year, in which case, build away.